Aaaaalivia's

Here are some wonderful pictures of my lovely dinner date with my bestie! We had a blast, sitting outside on their patio and eating nachos (well, I ate the nachos). They were delicious! I am beginning to get the hang of Instagram and blogging...I feel many more awesome adventures coming soon!

Tubing Down the Dan River

Meredith organized a group of peeps and some meet up folks for a tubing adventure. We left early in the morning with overcast and slight drizzle worrying me a little bit about how this adventure would turn out. After we hopped onto 40 and were past Greensboro the skies opened up and it was sunny for the rest of the day.

We arrived and checked in. Received our instructions and were bused up to the drop off point. After allowing everyone adequate adjustment time to get into the cold river; we were off. Steering away from a few trees and rocks. We had a nice flotilla of tubes connected together. I wish I could have brought my phone or camera to take pictures but I know it would have ended up in the bottom of the river. 

When we stopped for our lunch, I jokingly told Meredith to stop tripping me with the rope that held all our tubes together and right after I said that I tripped over the rope (not Meredith's fault) and landed in the rocks (always so graceful). Thankfully, I was alright aside from a few scratches and an interesting smiley faced scratch outline. We stopped again at an interesting cave like dwelling which was great minus the almost knee deep guck you had to step in to get to the shore. Thankful for no leeches!

The trip was fantastic! We were able to have a lot of laughs, meet new people, enjoy relaxing moments and take in the beautiful river all in one short day. I am looking forward to going again and would suggest it to anyone. 

P.S. I have learned that it is important to yell at people about large rocks up ahead instead of telling them over and over again. Lesson learned. :)

Susan G. Komen 5k

Post race blog for the Susan G. Komen 5k:

I had been training on and off for the 5k. I endured some great runs at the track for preparation of the race. Sue, my very reliable running buddy decided to run together or run as much as we possibly could. We arrived by bus, thanks to our trusted driver Keri. The event was unlike any event I had been before. There was people everywhere. Up in lifeguard stands and pink everywhere. I was thankful that I had remembered to wear pink and was fashioning my runnerpeeps shirt. When we got there, we found the rest of the peeps and decided to take a few quick pictures and then go to the start of the race. Excitement was clearly in the air as some of the competitive runners had PR'd on this race! Congrats Michelle! 

Sue and I began to run when there was enough room to get past people. We ran on the sidewalk for a good distance and of course walked the hills. It was a hot day and there were many water sprayers on the side to refresh runners/walkers alike. I had just purchased my iPhone the night before and was updating before and after the race and keeping myself out of the soakers range. After the run, I was craving a snack and after many attempts found the food stand and many fun give aways which will hopefully come in handy later on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this race. Next year, I will do the competitive race since I felt like I was just continually zig zagging through people. My favorite part of this race was the Wednesday night track runs with everyone and of course getting to watch the Bruins at TriBeCa with everyone. :)

I continuously feel blessed that I took the leap to become a peep. It's a great group of people! :)

                                       

                                                                   

                                        

                                                The 5 am runners: yes, that is correct. 5 am! 

Mutated and extremely grateful!

Last year, my mother called me to let me know she was being tested for a genetic mutation: MSH2 also known as: Lynch Syndrome.

She tested positive. So, I set up an appointment with Duke's Genetic Counselor to see if I had the mutation as well. After being asked approximately 40 times if I would want to know if I had the mutation... I found out that I had the mutation. 

My sister and I both came back positive. The mutation of course is considered dominant even though you have a 50% chance it is still more likely you would have it.

What does it do? It increases our risk of several cancers: colon (50%), endometrial (20-40%), stomach (20%), ovarian (16%), uterine (8%), brain (4%) and skin (2%). Phew... lots of statistics that have know been engraved in my mind.

More specifically, the mutation which is located on my 2nd chromosome disables the DNA from being able to proofread a copy of DNA which in turn can lead to errors which then can lead to cancer.

So, I have had 2 colonoscopies, 1 endometrial biopsy, 1 ovarian ultra sound, 1 uri-analysis and thankfully so far every thing has come back benign. Without, the testing I could have developed cancer (especially ovarian) without every knowing and maybe my life would be cut shorter than I hope.

I feel so grateful to have so many people around me that have helped me go to appointments to get my screenings done.

Last week, when I was at the doctor's waiting for my biopsy; I could hear the nurses saying "She is so young why is she getting this done?" It is sad that I have to get this done but what would I rather have? My mom and her family could have potentially saved all of our lives by making the courageous choice to get tested. Lynch Syndrome is not as rare as people think. (1 in 200 people have it.)

My "lady" doctor told me that I was the first person to know that I had Lynch Syndrome until it was too late. It feels great to know that even though being poked and prodded isn't the greatest time that I am taking my own life in my hands and making it better.

The other added bonus is that because I am a Teacher. I have lots of friends in the Science department that love to have me present to their students about my pedigree which is quite interesting and I love it. It is certainly a real world example for the students to have in the classroom.

:)

Hula Hoop Jammin' in Apt. A

This past weekend I was fortunate to have some down time. I was able to hoop for quite a long time and work on some new tricks. I am trying to master knee hooping which is incredibly hard especially because I turn in my knees...

I am also working on dropping my head out while hooping on my shoulders and be able to gracefully catch it and be able to bring it back.... key word (gracefully) I have been able to do it a few times to that status but I would really like to master it because I think it will be a key to adding in some more dance moves to hooping.

Every time I hoop I pick it up for a different reasons sometimes because I have a down weekend or I am just feeling creative. I feel blessed that I have something silly that I love so much that allows me to be in "my zone" and be able to express myself in a different way. I haven't been able to hoop with a group recently but I hope this summer that I will be able to make it to some hoop jams.

Babysitting Lydia Louise

My bestie's neice... Lydia is probably the most precious baby I have seen. (non-biased of course) And, thankfully I have had the opportunity to be able to babysit her twice in the past two weeks. Here are some pictures of her. :)

 

 

We even were able to venture on a walk that day since it was so nice. Hay and I packed up Lydia in her adorable stroller and took their dog Tucker for a walk. A car even stopped

to compliment how cute Tucker was. :)

Summer 2013

Summer is here so I thought it would be fitting to talk about my summer plans this year.

I am working a lot or more than I usually do. I am going to be teaching Biology for Summer School and work with my anonymous awesome lady part time. I am looking forward to reading at the pool. So, being the planner I am; I have compiled a list of books that I want to tackle this summer.

1.) How to Eat a Cupcake

2.) Water for Elephants

3.) Silver Linings Playbook

4.) Carrie & Me

5.) Girls in White Dresses

6.) What I Know Now” Letters to my Younger Self

7.) 20 Something 20 Everything

8.) Gone with the Wind

9.) Secret Life of Bees

10.) Are you there Vodka? It’s me Chelsea.

11.) To Marry an English Lord (Dontown Abbey)

12.) Confederacy of Dunces

13.) Why we Broke Up

14.) Sky is Everywhere

15.) An Object of Beauty

16.) Tiger Eyes (Judy Blume!)

17.) Th

18.) King of Heists

19.) Beautiful Creatures

20.) Happy Happy Happy

 

Well, I am off to read my life away.... :)

Graduation

Who doesn't love a huge celebration?

Graduation time has come and gone. Yesterday, was graduation and the ladies and I celebrated by going to Tyler's Taproom for lunch. Then, we were off to celebrate with the students. We were late at Duke so by the time we found our spot to park we missed the opportunity to sit on the floor. (Finally, they took off the zip ties off the chairs: we missed it) We made our way to the top of the auditurium. Which was loud, very loud. It was sad that we couldn't hear anything over people on their cell phones/screaming for their students.

We took a picture of us outside of the auditorium. What a beautiful bunch of ladies.